Jubilant Jonty Hall is hoping to make a real splash after clinching his dream job.

The 30-year-old has just landed a job in charge of Kielder Water - which he started to fill back in 1979.

Mr Hall was just nine when he was picked to push the button and launch the biggest man-made lake in northern Europe.

It was 1979 - the Year of the Child - and he was chosen by the constructors for the historic task because he was the oldest pupil at tiny Kielder village primary school.

Little was he to know that it was the beginning of a lifelong link between himself and the seven-mile long reservoir.

For after leaving school, Mr Hall enrolled on a course at Northumberland College, Ashing-ton, but had to abandon his ambitions to be a photographer or graphic designer when his funding source dried up.

He then got a job with Northumbrian Water and now, aged 30, he is in charge of the reservoir as team leader of the five wardens who monitor it.

He often shows tourists around and is fond of gesturing at the great expanse of water and saying: "I did that."

As a nine-year-old his task was to close a sluice in the smaller of the reservoir's two dams, at Bakethin. The main reservoir opened three years later.

He started a process which saw more than 30 acres of land disappearing under water for ever and three years later the Queen turned up to officially open the Kielder scheme.

The reservoir was formed by daming the North Tyne at one of its narrowest points in a remote part of Northumberland.

It has played a major role in helping the North East avoid the droughts which hit other parts of Britain.

Mr Hall, who lives in Falstone, said: "As a youngster I used to travel by the dam on the road to school and would see the water and the reservoir but never dreamed I would work here one day. It's a fantastic job."

The lake holds 44 billion gallons of water and, with its restaurant, visitors' centre and other amenities, is a major tourist attraction.

Its constant water level provides a stable environment for a thriving conservation area which is a home to otters, oystercatchers, sandpipers and a host of other wildlife and flora.